


coolest place in the world

by eatsung



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Crushes, M/M, Music, Shyness, Slice of Life, the dreamies are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28240584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatsung/pseuds/eatsung
Summary: donghyuck chuckled, embarrassed by his own wrong assumption. he had pride in his knowledge of music, but apparently he wasn’t as omniscient as he’d previously thought.“i’ll send it to you if you like.”donghyuck nodded, looking to the ground albeit smiling.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	coolest place in the world

**Author's Note:**

> title from [this beautiful song](https://open.spotify.com/track/1LtJvmPb3gtY6Epdj3VmL9?si=heEViRgJR72uV7NtfDQSDw) <3

mark was playing something by _the velvet underground_ when donghyuck came down to the kitchen that’s directly connected to the lees’ living room.

donghyuck’s sides hurt from laughing so hard at some joke chenle had made – all their friends had met up in jisung’s room together, spreading out a row of mattresses on the floor, just eating junk food and playing video games all evening.

the brunette was surprised to see his friend’s brother, as he assumed the older would be out with his own friends – it _was_ a saturday afternoon, but donghyuck assumed that maybe mark wasn’t the type to go out a lot.

they didn’t know each other that well.

“hi there,” donghyuck said, smiling as he leaned against the door frame, the strumming from the guitar stopping the instant mark noticed him.

the older was wearing a light brown beanie, the black fringe he had usually styled up so nicely pushed back, revealing part of his forehead.

he wasn’t wearing his glasses, but donghyuck spotted them on the living room table, mark not having bothered to even close them, just lying atop some scattered pages that the brunette assumed were sheets of music.

“hey, donghyuck.”

his tone was a little odd donghyuck thought, but he didn’t mention it. he smiled, drumming his hands against the wood of the frame. “just getting some water,” he spoke, as if to justify his sudden appearance.

it was kind of evident mark hadn’t expected him there – what else would explain the obvious blush that was spreading on his cheeks, colouring his ears a bright lobster red.

 _cute_ , donghyuck thought.

mark nodded and the younger sucked in a breath, feeling a little awkward besides keeping on a small smile. he turned back slowly, walking over to the sink with a few steps.

he reached up and opened the cupboard, getting out one of those mcdonald’s coke glasses that jisung insisted on getting every time just because it was _convenient_ and that mark and his mother had whined about the last time donghyuck had eaten dinner with the lees.

after filling it up halfway with cold tab water, he took a few hesitant sips and then a big one, because he _was_ thirsty after all.

donghyuck considered walking back into the living room, just to chat with mark a bit, but the older started to play again and donghyuck assumed he would just stop again if he decided to talk to him – the melody was nice, it’d be a bummer if it ended.

walking around the lees’ kitchen wasn’t something that never got boring, nevermind how many times donghyuck visited jisung’s house. the walls were decorated with dozens of colourful artworks, curtesy of yuna, jisung and mark’s younger sister, as well as rows and rows of photographs of all the lee siblings in all stages of age.

donghyuck bit his lip so he didn’t laugh too hard at a picture of baby jisung and chenle sitting in a mountain of what seemed to be flour or powdered sugar – the two had been joined at the hip ever since they were little kids, getting into all sorts of trouble. (not much different from now, even if donghyuck assumed especially jisung was getting more levelheaded the older he got. it kind of made him emotional, seeing his best friends grow up so well.)

donghyuck’s favourite picture out of all of them was a one with all three siblings – it was relatively new, from last winter. mrs lee always made all her kids pose for what jisung deemed _super embarrassing_ and _extremely fake_ christmas pictures.

donghyuck found them charming, especially (then) 18-year-old mark, with his hair extra shiny and strategically slicked back, wearing a sparkly green bowtie, matching jisung’s red and yuna’s white one.

sighing, the brunette took another sip of his water. a lot of the time he wished him and his siblings were close like this, but doyoung was serving his time in the military and donghyuck wasn’t good with babies, staying out as much as he could so his mom couldn’t ask him to take care of eunjo.

he liked spending time at his grandmother’s – she didn’t live far, close enough so she regularly came over to prepare or help with lunch and dinner, but far enough that donghyuck could easily escape the scolding of his mother and find shelter in her vegetable garden.

the squeak of mark changing the strings he was pressing down ripped donghyuck out of his thoughts. he took one more sip, emptying the rest of the water into the sink.

“did you write that?”

mark didn’t jump as hard and surprisingly, he didn’t stop playing, only looking up, a tiny smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. he shook his head.

donghyuck chuckled, embarrassed by his own wrong assumption. he had pride in his knowledge of music, but apparently he wasn’t as omniscient as he’d previously thought.

“i’ll send it to you if you like.”

donghyuck nodded, looking to the ground albeit smiling.

mark hummed, his playing getting a little smoother. he had a nice voice and if donghyuck were honest, he could probably spend hours like his, just listening to mark’s mumbled singing and the gentle melody of his acoustic guitar.

“you know you could join us.” he cleared his throat, forcing himself to meet mark’s eyes. something told him the older hadn’t looked away once. “if you want,” he added and shrugged, pointing his thumb into the direction of the stairs, where he’d come from. he could hear jaemin and chenle’s muted guffaw.“you shouldn’t sit home alone on a saturday.”

mark’s hand slowed, not yet stopping, still playing what seemed to be the same song. his nose crinkled up when he smiled, somehow apologetic.

“i’m not alone. i have my guitar.” upon donghyuck's eye-roll, the older laughed, open and loud.

donghyuck gave him a look. “i didn’t know you were so cheesy, mark lee.”

the dark-haired shrugged, only giving a grin as a response. donghyuck sighed, defeated.

“fine, then. if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

he turned away, but stopped when the sound of the guitar disappeared and instead he heard footsteps. when he turned back around again, mark was standing, the instrument placed to the side, hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

“you’ll listen to it, right?” his gaze was hopeful and donghyuck frowned in confusion.

“what do you mean?”

mark grinned, slightly bouncing on his heels. was he nervous? maybe. donghyuck was very nervous.

“the song, hyuck. i wanna know what you think.”

the older chewed on his lower lip as he waited for a response. the brunette snorted, throwing his head back as he laughed.

“i hadn’t deemed you so dorky, mark lee. but yes, i’ll listen. i promise.”

when donghyuck walked upstairs again, he could still feel mark’s eyes burning holes into his back.

**Author's Note:**

> context:
> 
> \- ot6 dream are bffs  
> \- jisung n mark r brothers  
> \- donghyuck has a crush on mark  
> \- hyuck is 18 and mark is 19 btw  
> \- the song mark was playing in the beginning was ‘pale blue eyes’ by the velvet underground but thats not important tbh  
> \- the second one was the one i linked in the beginning notes (go listen, its nice)  
> \- mark and donghyuck text after this and donghyuck tells him the song is beautiful and he hopes he can listen to mark play it for him again and mark asks him out on a date and they share their first kiss under a mistletoe


End file.
